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Books are love letters to our minds and souls. They can help us learn more about a topic, escape to a different world for a few hours, and even learn more about the lives of some of the most intricate and fascinating characters on the planet.
The holiday season quickly approaches and 2024 ends —and one of the best ways to show appreciation and love to yourself and the people around you is by gifting a book to feed the soul. Here is a list of some outstanding books from this year so you can enjoy them over the holidays, add to your bucket list of books to read for next year, or give to a loved one this holiday season.
Say More by Jen Psaki
Jen Psaki. Image Courtesy of NPR.
In the world of communications, if a message is not received by the recipient it’s almost like it didn’t happen. Think about an email getting lost in spam, or a conversation that is hard to follow due to loud noises around your surroundings. In Jen Psaki’s book: Say More, the author unravels her personal and professional experiences as a communicator —from her early days in the Obama administration to becoming Press Secretary for President Biden to now being a news anchor at MSNBC.
Psaki’s book is truly insightful for readers of all ages and backgrounds, curious about communications and the intricate process of decision-making in the White House and in the media.
Shameless by Brian Tyler Cohen
The world of politics is constantly changing. Bills are being introduced, new faces arrive in Washington DC, and a combination of federal work with political spectacle happens on a daily basis making headlines in all kinds of newspapers and types of media.
For the average citizen, it is a lot to take in —there are simply not enough hours in the day to keep up with every Committee hearing, press conference, and tweet (or "X post"?) Members of Congress are making day-to-day decisions.
From a political communication perspective, it is important to understand how theatrical politics became. The Speaker of the House is kicked out in an unprecedented tragicomedy almost as if it was written by Roman dramatist Plautus himself. YouTube host and New York Times best-seller author, Brian Tyler Cohen explains in his first book Shameless, what is happening in Washington DC with timely examples and a great sense of humor.
Buy Shameless here
Jaqueline Kennedy and the Architecture of First Lady Fashion Diplomacy by Elizabeth J. Natalie
This rhetorical analysis brings back scripts, speeches, and headlines that sustain the argument on how Jackie Kennedy's Political Fashion went far beyond being the wife of the President of the United States. Her fluency in Spanish allowed her to give speeches in this language during her visits to Mexico, Colombia, Puerto Rico, and Venezuela. Her passion, knowledge, and appreciation for art allowed her to break certain tensions between France and the United States.
This book brings together the receipts to authenticate the critical role of Jackie Kennedy with her use of interpersonal, language, fashion, cultural, and state diplomatic strategies to strengthen US politics.
Buy Jaqueline Kennedy and the Architecture of First Lady Fashion Diplomacy here
When Life Gives You Lululemons by Lauren Weisberger
Fashion intellectuals meet fiction with this novel by the author who brought us the best-seller and classic The Devil Wears Prada. (Amidst the Devil Wears Prada musical premiering on Broadway this year and the sequel of the movie being announced with Anne Hathaway, Meryl Streep, and Emily Blunt returning to bring back these characters, there's been another wave of fascination for this novel).
When Life Gives You Lululemons portrays the anecdotes of what happens to Emily after she leaves Runway magazine, and tells the story of two other women whose plotlines overlap with political drama, revenge, and women empowerment. This is a great fiction novel that doesn’t follow the cliches of a romantic story and wovens the drama of politics in Washington DC with Emily’s growing fashion career.
Buy When Life Gives You Lululemons Here
White Supremacy is All Around by Akilah Cadet DHSc MPH
“This is the story of how I became an unapologetic Black disabled woman in a white world”.
Dr. Akilah Cadet is the founder and CEO of Change Cadet. She is an extraordinary storyteller who brings a book that is raw, engaging, urging, and necessary. Learning and unlearning are lifelong, and Dr. Cadet does a really good job at leading the conversations that push for real change.
This is an intricate and so easy-to-read book from cover to cover that engages the reader with stories that are full of substance, emotions, and life-learning lessons.
Buy White Supremacy Is All Around: Notes from a Black Disabled Woman in a White World Here
All Boys Aren’t Wear Blue by George M. Johnson
The third most banned book in the United States is a memoir-manifesto by a Black-queer boy.
George M. Johnson opens up about the invoked violence against Black queer people. At the same time, this book is a love letter to recognize and acknowledge the wide diversity of souls living in the world who are struggling to come out or who are yet to come out.
All Boys Aren't Wear Blue is a celebration of identity, understanding that coming out is a life-long process —woven into the layers of race and faith — rather than a goal to checkmark.
The New Red Carpet by Christian Siriano
Christian Siriano told Political Fashion Editor, Javier Luna: “The reason why I called the book ‘The New Red Carpet’ is because I want people to know what I think the red carpet should look like and what’s new and fresh about it. It’s really important to showcase all different types of people from different walks of life and how they can all be fabulous, though maybe not the normal thing you would see on the red carpet.”
The New Red Carpet is about the act of pushing boundaries forward through fashion while giving space to all muses to look and feel confident and spectacular, regardless of size, gender, and age.
Revisit here the exclusive statements from Christian Siriano to Political Fashion
Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution by Anne Higonnet
In this book, professor Higonnet shares with us the story of three courageous women who made a revolution through fashion.
Professor Higonnet's angle to storytelling helps us understand better some of the changes of the French Revolution from an unheard perspective —one that acknowledges women's ambitions, desires, and eagerness to accomplish them, even when their voices were silenced and long clothes restricted their moves and rigorous laws.
“Read this book because it will make you feel like you can be a style revolutionary.” said Professor Higonnet in a conversation with Javier Luna earlier this year.
Buy Liberty, Equality, Fashion: The Women Who Styled the French Revolution Here
Revisit here the exclusive interview with Professor Higonnet in Political Fashion
Empresses of Seventh Avenue
This book carefully narrates both the personal and professional stories of women, who despite facing the many constraints of the 20th century, worked to influence fashion as communicators, editors-in-chief, publicists, retailers, creators, designers, businesspeople, and leaders of opinion.
Earlier this year, the author of Empresses of Seventh Avenue, Nancy Macdonell, told Political Fashion's editor Javier Luna:
"Having this complete history of a particular period of American fashion, I think it shows people what the fashion industry was against, how audacious it was to say “New York is going to be the center of fashion, not Paris. I think this is something that many people don’t realize, what the struggle was, to get American fashion the recognition that it now has.
And it is a huge industry now, billions and billions of dollars. It’s the biggest fashion market."
Revisit the exclusive interview with Nancy MacDonell in Political Fashion
Buy Empresses of Seventh Avenue: World War II, New York City, and the Birth of American Fashion Here
Christian Dior : the man who made the world look new / Marie-France Pochna
There is still so much to learn about the man who built the empire of Christian Dior: his early years, his struggles during World War II, and his ability to create an empire after the war ended, finding inspiration in the natural elements and fragrances that reminded him of his mother and his sister.
This book is a splendid work of research and storytelling that compiles both the beginnings of Christian Dior and its legacy for decades to come.
Buy Christian Dior : the man who made the world look new / Marie-France Pochna here
Pat in the City by Patricia Field
The mastermind behind iconic fashion from Sex and the City and Emily in Paris, Patricia Field, speaks about her life working as a businesswoman, partnering up with creatives, stylists, drag queens, and celebrities to create fashion that is provocative, refreshing, and sometimes purposefully goofy and senseless.
Pat in the City is as colorful and joyful as the stories Patricia Field has been telling us with clothes throughout her time in the fashion industry, as a true pioneer breaking rules and receiving credit for making leggings fashionable, and blending mass-produced fashion with high fashion.
Anna: The Biography by Amy Odell
Some readers like to say that the only thing better than an authorized biography is an unauthorized biography. There are some fascinating insights that are unleashed when different versions of a story are heard, and several people have yet to confirm or deny a story.
Anna Wintour is one of the most powerful and recognized figures in the fashion industry, with a gigantic influence that goes from determining the creative direction of a show in New York Fashion Week, all the way to providing feedback to Bradley Cooper for the Star is Born script (even before Cooper decided to cast Lady Gaga). This bio brings you a little closer to the fast-paced industry in which Wintour has fought to earn her power and influence, and how her relationship-building and philanthropy efforts have been pivotal during crucial events outside of fashion, such as presidential elections, and the Covid-19 pandemic.
Sneaker Wars by Barbara Smit
The worldwide-known sneakers with three stripes that Adidas established as a signature element have much more in common with the widely known red Puma sneaker than you think. Smit’s keen reporter eye takes us to the 1900s to learn more about two brothers, a family business in Germany, and a rising World War II that fueled the rivalry between these brothers and created a feud that completely changed the business of sports.
Buy Sneaker Wars here
Trans Kids, Our Kids
When we think about stories to read and stories to be told, the story itself is as important as the storyteller. For the last decade, we have seen stories about transgender youth being distorted, decomposed, and even demonized. In the book, Trans Kids, Our Kids Adam Polaski, Alexis Stratton, and Jasmine Beach-Ferrara put together the stories of transgender youth and their families to own these stories and bring together a community through the emotional connection that the reader —regardless of their background and identity– can experience.
Alexis Stratton, one of the authors of the book explains: “There is so much political noise about transgender young people, which enables and even encourages the public to look past the very real, long-lasting harms that legislative attacks are causing for transgender youth and their families. Our mission with Trans Kids, Our Kids is to center, elevate, and amplify the voices of the people who are grappling with the fallout – the parents and family members, the doctors and attorneys, the advocates, and, above all, the young people themselves. Our book introduces extraordinary and diverse people who bring to the forefront not only the fear and pain that the trans community is experiencing but also the ways that we are finding joy and supporting each other through this crisis.”
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